Culled fom Daily Observer Two pathologists at the RVH yesterday confirmed the use of live ammunition on April 10 and 11 students demonstration resulting to death of some school students. Making the confirmation Thursday before members of the commission, Dr Omar Sam, a pathologist at RVH, said most of the bodies he conducted post-mortem on had features of gunshot wounds. Dr Sam who told the commission he had been a pathologist for the past eight years, intimated that his findings revealed that the features were those of high velocity or rifle bullets. He said one of the bullets recovered on the body of Momodou Lamin Chune was handed over to the coroner. The bullet was tendered before the commission and marked as an exhibit. Dr Sam said he performed eight post-mortem examinations on April 11. He said all eight deaths were sudden deaths caused by severe bleeding and injuries to the heart or major damages to the blood vessels. He added that an additional post-mortem report was made relating to the death of Ousman Sabally. He said he conducted the post-mortem at the Brikama-ba grave yard. Eight photographs of bodies Dr Sam conducted post-mortems on were tendered before the inquiry. He said the photograph on the body of Ousman Sabally was with the police criminal record office. The post-mortem reports were also tendered before the commission. In his testimony, Dr Raphael Sorhegui, another pathologist at the RVH, confirmed that he had conducted three post-mortem examinations on three bodies on April 11. Dr Sorhegui, who said he had been a pathologist for the past 24 years, told the inquiry that he conducted post-mortem on the body of three-year-old Abdoulie Sanyang. He attributed the cause of Abdoulie's death to "crush syndrome". He said there were damages on the young boy's lungs. On the case of 10-year-old Ebrima Badjie, Dr Sorhegui attributed the cause of death to massive haemorrhage from the blood vessels. He said there were gunshots on Ebrima Badjie's chest, which he attributed to high velocity rifle shot. On Wuyeh Mansally, 19, the veteran pathologist said the cause of death was due to massive haemorrhage. He said there was a gunshot on the right side of Mansally's neck. He added that it was due to high velocity object. In his testimony, Fye Sanneh of Wellingara, Central River Division, said he was told by fleeing people from Brikama-ba that soldiers and police were firing shots at Brikama-ba April 11. He added that he went to Brikama-ba to look for his children and upon arrival found the village school empty. He said he saw people on the highway and as he was heading towards them, he saw Sainey Nyabally lying on the ground, his mouth agape. He added that he proceeded to Brikama-ba police station to inquire whether any student from his village had died or been injured. He said the station officer told him to quickly leave the station to avoid being shot. He said he insisted that he would look for his children. He said he returned to the spot where he saw his nephew, Sainey Nyabally, lying on the ground, but found he had died. He said he found his villagers making arrangements to take the body for burial but he advised that the body should be taken to Bansang Hospital before burial. He added that one Ebrima Saidy, a young man from Saruja village, who was looking for children from Saruja, was shot in the abdomen. He confirmed the response of three armed soldiers at the time of the shooting in the area. He said the station officer at Brikama-ba police, Madinding Fatty, who was in company of soldiers, was armed. He added that he was arrested by soldiers from Basse who threatened to shoot him if he ran. He said he was escorted at gun point and was detained at Brikama-ba police station. He added that he spent a day at the station without lunch or dinner. He said he and other detainees were remanded at Janjangbureh prisons and he was detained for nine days until he was granted bail in the sum of D5,000. He added that 44 of them were detained at Janjangbureh prisons, including 22 students, 11 elders and 11 youth. He said when he inquired why he was detained, the security officers told him "nobody should go into the streets that day to talk to security men." A bullet he said he recovered at Brikama-ba was tendered before the commission. He said he was not tortured but some people were beaten with gun butts on their heads and sustained injuries. Earlier, the commission conducted an identification parade since the police corporal, Gorgi Mboob, has repeatedly denied his presence at St Augustine's Senior Secondary School. Inspector Omar Darboe of the police intervention unit, Ousman Sabally, a teacher at the school and Father David Jimoh Jarju, vice principal, all appeared before the commission and confirmed that Gorgi Mboob was among the security officers who entered the premises of St Augustine's. They all touched him with their hands to confirm they identified him. But corporal Gorgi Mboob doggedly maintained that he never stepped foot in the premises of Saint Augustine's school on April 10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------